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PEABODY ENERGY TAPS SHEPHERD, CURRAN:Peabody Energy has hired Raymond Shepherd as vice president of federal government relations and Chris Curran as vice president of corporate communications. Shepherd will be based in Washington, D.C., and will be responsible for strengthening Peabody's relationships with U.S. policymakers. He comes on board from the law firm Venable, where he was a partner and chairman of the Congressional Investigations Practice Group. He’s also a former Capitol Hill staffer, where he worked as adviser, counsel and staffer. Curran has more than 20 years of experience in the corporate communications space and has worked on healthcare, manufacturing and other issues.

ALPINE GROUP SIGNS SHELL OIL: Shell Oil has registered with the Alpine Group to lobby on regulations surrounding liquid natural gas fueling stations. Shell has previously expressed interest in building a network of LNG stations for the trucking industry but scaled back its efforts earlier this year amid cost concerns. Alpine’s Mike Henry, a former staffer on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Jason Schendle, former legislative counsel for Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), will lobby for Shell. This is the oil company’s second registration this year, after signing with Monument Policy Group in January for work on environment, tax, transportation and trade policy. Shell spent $4.7 million lobbying in the first half of the year, including spending $4.4 million in-house.

GOOD FRIDAY AFTERNOON, where it’s been 224 years since the first U.S. census was completed. About 4 million people lived in the United States at that time, according to the Associated Press. Send lobbying news, gossip, tips and scoops to btau@politico.com. And keep up with PI on Twitter by following @ByronTau or @PoliticoPI.

PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS RALLY FOR BENNET LEGISLATION: The progressive reform community is rallying around legislation introduced by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) that would reform lobbying fundraising rules. As PI reported Thursday, the bill would ban members of Congress from soliciting lobbyist donations while Congress is in session. It would also ban bundling and tweak the definition of registered lobbying. “No single legislative measure could do more to lessen the public’s skepticism of Capitol Hill than to break the potentially corrupting nexus between lobbyists, money and lawmakers,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “This legislation would achieve precisely that.”

The Campaign Legal Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common Cause, Democracy 21, Demos, League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and Sunlight Foundation all signed onto a statement in support of the bill. “Fourteen states currently have session prohibitions on contributions by lobbyists. In the McConnell case, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on solicitation by members of potentially corrupting contributions,” said the groups in a statement. “The solicitation restriction in the Bennet bill complements and strengthens the bill’s curb on bundling by lobbyists. By prohibiting members from soliciting lobbyists while Congress is in session, the bill further limits the ability of lobbyists to use political money to obtain corrupting influence over government decisions.”

AKIN GUMP FETES HEALTH CARE TEAM: Law firm and lobbying shop Akin Gump held a Thursday evening cocktail reception at 101 Constitution to celebrate the beginning of the congressional recess and to welcome the new members of Akin Gump’s health policy team. Attendees included Hill staffers as well as a number of prominent health care experts. Akin Gump public law and policy partner Joel Jankowsky welcomed participants at the event, which featured health policy practice head John Jonas and others in the group that joined the firm earlier this year, including Martha Kendrick, Karen Smith Thiel, Richard L. Thompson, and M. Todd Tuten, among others. The team joined from Patton Boggs, which merged earlier this year with Squire Sanders.

LGBT DOWNTOWNERS RALLY FOR D.C. COUNCIL CANDIDATE:Raben Group founder Robert Raben hosted a fundraiser at his home on Thursday for one of his firm’s own. Courtney R. Snowden, a principal with the firm, is running for a D.C. Council at-large seat. The fundraiser was a who’s who of LGBT progressives and other downtowner supporters. Snowden, a native Washingtonian, was recently endorsed by the Victory Fund. Spotted at the event: Jeffrey Trammell, Pete Leon, Bill Murat, Brian Johnson, and E. Monique Hall. The host committee included: Elizabeth Birch, Cathy Renna, Rea Carey, Daniel Penchina, Sarah McBride, Pete Leon, Darlene Nipper, Campbell Spencer, Aisha & Danielle Moodie-Mills, and Tony Varona.

LOVELESS BIDS FAREWELL TO AFSCME: Mike Allen had the scoop on Thursday that Charles Loveless was headed to NVG. In a goodbye note to colleagues, Loveless wrote: “Hard to believe but today is my last day at AFSCME. It has been a real honor for me to work so many years for this great institution. In September, I am joining as a senior adviser NVG, a government relations firm specializing in public policy, advocacy, strategic advice and outreach. It has a deep bench of individuals who know how to shape policy and legislative debates and a mix of corporate, union and nonprofit clients. I hope in this new capacity I will be able to continue working with you on the issues which are important to all of us."

PR WEEK NAMES GLICKFIELD, KONESCHUSKY TO ‘40 UNDER 40’: PR week is out with its annual “40 Under 40” list and a number of D.C. downtowners are included. Shana Glickfield of Beekeeper Group; Andrew Koneschusky of CLS Strategies, Rebecca Ballard of Hill+Knowlton Strategies; Jessica Smith of Burson-Marsteller and Marcie Kohenak of Zeno Group are all on the list, which includes lots of other PR stars from across the country. Koneschusky’s colleagues celebrated his nomination in a release. “Andrew’s enthusiasm for his clients is felt by everyone who works with him here at CLS Strategies and drives a spirit of achievement across all of their efforts,” said CLS Strategies’ founding partner, Bob Chlopak. Check out the full PR Week list here: http://bit.ly/WRwS11

NORMA KRAYEM, ANN LAFRANCE TAKE OVER DATA PRACTICE AT SQUIRE PATTON: POLITICO’s Tal Kopan reports: Recently combined lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs has named Norma Krayem in D.C. and Ann LaFrance in London as global co-chairwomen of the firm's Data Protection and Cybersecurity industry group, a move to be announced in the coming days. Krayem is a principal at the firm handling a range of security and technology issues, and LaFrance is a partner working on issues including telecommunications and data protection.

ELSEWHERE IN THE INFLUENCE WORLD

LEWIS PROFILED BY WEALTH MANAGEMENT: “You may not have heard of Robert Lewis, who joined the Financial Services Institute in March 2012, but as head of the group’s legislative affairs, he’s has had a hand in many industry issues, including the debate around the Department of Labor’s fiduciary proposal and Florida’s “notice-filing state” law enacted last year, which allowed branch offices to stay open while making changes to their business,” reports Megan Leonhardt.http://bit.ly/1u73sXf

HUFFPO TALKS LOBBYING OVER BOOZE: Sam Stein and Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post interviews John Feehery and Jim Manley of Quinn Gillespie & Associates Public Affairs and Heather Podesta of Heather Podesta & Partners. Feehery likes Subway's spicy italian sandwich, while Podesta is a big fan of Tosca. Also Buffalo Wild Wings came up in conversation. http://huff.to/1qPGBlI

TAXIS ARE CRUSHING UBER IN INFLUENCE-PEDDLING: Sunlight and WaPo have the numbers and the analysis. http://wapo.st/1rWpq1b

OIRA BECOMES A LOBBYING TARGET: The Office of Information and Regulatory Affair has become a lobbying magnet, reports ProPublica. http://bit.ly/1rWqlil